How do I work out the meaning of a Greek text? How can I best understand the forms and vocabulary in this particular text?

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Thanks, Jason, for the thorough review of the textual variants so typical of Revelation.

Returning to Mike's original question as to the meaning of 046's reading: presumably it echoes the teaching of 2 Maccabees 7:28 that God created all things out of nothing (more or less, "they did not exist until You created them").

ἀξιῶ σε, τέκνον, ἀναβλέψαντα εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς πάντα ἰδόντα γνῶναι ὅτι οὐκ ἐξ ὄντων ἐποίησεν αὐτὰ ὁ θεός
I urge you, child, to look at the sky and the earth and when you see all that is in them to acknowledge that God did not make them out of existing things